I think nepotism is a bad thing in the long run. Nepotism is the process where you are advanced in some way due to someone you know. It differs from affirmative action in that affirmative action seeks to level the playing field for people who are disadvantaged. The problem with nepotism is that frequently less qualified people are given places that they may not necessarily deserve. It disadvantages people who are more qualified than the person who got the position from someone they knew. I can give an example of how nepotism can be a bad thing. Imagine that there is an opening for a nuclear regulator position. There are two people applying. One person is a qualified regulator, who previously worked at another power plant. The other person is the son of someone who works at the new power plant. While he is properly trained, he is fresh out of college, and has no real-life experience yet. The son gets hired over the more qualified person. Later in the year, there is an accident at the plant, and the regulator, without experience of such things, doesnt know what to do. The plant proceeds to melt down, and the area around the plant is unlivable for many years. This is just one example of how nepotism can negatively affect the world.

Yes, I would definitely agree that this was the best lecture of the year. In our times, there are many people who hold prejudices, especially against Arab peoples after 9/11. I feel the lecture sent an important message about trying to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Most of the class was arguably Christian, and it was important for them to see that Muslim people behave in much the same way as an average American Christian would. It was also good that Sam showed that there are similarities between the two peoples. For example, Sam showed a picture of a Muslim soldier carrying a rocket launcher as well as a copy of the Koran. The very next picture was of an American soldier praying over the Bible. Even more damning was the picture he showed of the Bible with the U.S. Army seal on it. This sort of implied that the government/military believes that god gave them a mission to accomplish in the Middle East.

One thing I wish Sam talked about was how there are extremists from both religions. We all know that the Muslim religion has Al Qaeda and Hezbollah. What many Christians either don't know or fail to recognize are the Christian extremists. Although they are a small minority of each religion, they are still there. For example, there is the Westboro Baptist church that protests the funerals of American soldiers. There are also those churches that preached of armageddon, and coerced their people into committing mass suicides. Although not on the same level of Muslim extremism, the sentiment is there.

This lecture was important for people to see both sides of the story. Many people believe what they see on tv, and do not make the effort to look for information themselves. If Christians would just take the time to even skim through a Koran, they would see that that holy book is not much different from the Bible. Further on, Christians should take more time to explore their own religion, instead of just blindly listening to televangelists like Pat Robertson, who give Americans, and Christians as well, a bad name.

Yes, I have felt uncomfortable when around two or more people speaking a different language. I think it's part of human nature to feel a little uncomfortable when you can't understand another person. There is always going to be that little bit of self-conciouseness about whether or not those people are talking about you. It's not that I think anyone is talking about me when they speak in another language. I think it's just the thought that they could be talking about me and I wouldn't know it that is unnerving.

I have a close friend that speaks fluent Italian, and through the years of hearing him speak, I have picked up a couple words, or can pick up the context of what he's saying through facial expressions or hand gestures. Most of the words I know are either curse words (seems like the words everyone knows in another language haha), but this is when I know he is saying something to or about someone when he doesn't want them to know.

Most of the times I've been around people speaking another language is in an elevator. Although it is only for a short time, I still feel a little uncomfortable when people speak in another language. The worst part is when they laugh at something they said. I know it's not about me, but like I said before, there's that little bit of self-consciousnees that creeps into my brain and wonders if it is about me. The worst is when people start in English, and then abruptly switch over to another language. This shows that they can obviously speak English. Why change over to another language when I get in the elevator? There could be a number of reasons for why they switched over. Maybe they were having a personal conversation, and didn't want me listening in on it.

But I guess overall it's cool being able to speak another language. It shows that you are intelligent. I speak a little bit of German, and on the rare occasion that I hear someone else speaking it, I always give myself a little test to see what I can understand.

I believe that the presidency of Barak Obama has helped race discussions in this country, but only to a certain extent. Being the first black president, Obama has certainly given hope to minority children that they can be whatever they want, as the woman in the video said. I agreed with her when she said that now the honest discussions can be had, and that white people felt that their earlier transgressions were being forgiven, for lack of a better word.

But I still feel that although the first black president is a huge step in the right direction in a country so greatly scarred by racial prejudice, there are still enough people in this country who would try and drag the rest of us back into the past. Some people are still wary, and possibly scared of a black president. How else can we describe the profuse arguments that surrounded the issue of whether Obama was a natural-born U.S. citizen? Even while having the birth certificate staring in their faces, there were still powerful people, aka members of congress, that did not believe Obama was born in the USA. Obama was born in 1961 in Hawaii, a full two years after it had become a state, making him a natural-born citizen. It is ludicrous that he could be accused of being anything but a US citizen, looking at these facts. During the election, there was hardly any talk of the validity of John McCain's citizenship status. John McCain was born on a naval base the Panama Canal Zone, which was controlled by the United State at the time. I'm not saying John McCain is not a natural-born citizen, because being born on a naval base anywhere around the world gives you citizenship. What I'm trying to say is that John McCain's status as a citizen is equal to Obama's, but there was no mention of it, even though he was born outside of a state. I feel the unequal attention paid to Obama was because of his race.

Even now there are still hurdles than need to be leaped in order to create a more unified society. As we were showed in one class, there is the disparity of graduation rates of minorities that needs to be fixed. Another example Sam showed us was hiring processes. In the study, there were identical resumes, while some were changed to show prior criminal history. it was shown that employers picked the white employees with a criminal background over the black employees with no criminal background. While Obama's presidency has helped somewhat, there are still problems that still need to be fixed

I think the diversity at Penn State can be looked at from two different perspectives. The first perspective is subjective, or based on my personal experiences and backgrounds. The second perspective is objective, or taking an unbiased look at the state of diversity at Penn State. I will first look at the subjective perspective. I am from Archbald, Pa, a small town in northeast Pennsylvania. The town is overwhelmingly white, with very few people of other races or ethnicities. My high school graduating class was very nearly all white, with only three or four students of another race. Even when driving through other nearby towns or cities, the area remained predominately white. By solely looking from this perspective, I would say that Penn State is extremely diverse. The second aspect I will look at is the objective perspective. The state of Pennsylvania is around seventy-seven percent white, leaving about twenty-three percent being made up of other races. The white percentage at Penn State is near the state average, also somewhere around seventy-seven percent white. In all of my classes there are usually a few people of another race. Walking around campus I usually see people of other races, something I did not see at home. So looking from this perspective, I would say Penn State is a diverse school, in line with the state average. Yet I can also take the objective viewpoint one step further, looking at national averages compared with those at Penn State. The percent of white people of a non-Hispanic background (basically those with ancestries from Western and Eastern Europe) is around sixty-five percent. You will remember that the percentage of white people at Penn State is around seventy-seven percent. So looking at the issue from a national angle, Penn State is less diverse than the nation. If we look at Penn State on a national level, (as most of us do concerning sports), then we should strive to meet the national level of diversity, and give students here an opportunity to discover new cultures. As Sam said in class, there are groups here that provide students with these opportunities to experience different cultures. However, most of these groups are too small to be able to garner university-wide attention. I feel that if more students from diverse backgrounds were here, the different groups would be able to have more members, and thus expand their reach throughout campus.

I think people in today's society are more overtly racist towards Muslim people, but still hold silent reservations about black people. I believe the reason for the overt racism against Muslims is due to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Although the attacks should not be generalized to whole group of people, that is what has been done. This is partly due to the media not clarifying enough, and also from politicians with skittish constituents trying to use scare tactics to get elected. People who are uneducated or to lazy to decide for themselves take the politicians word, and believe all Muslims are dangerous. There is a phenomenon in American history (and I'm sure in other countries too) where people who have been "established" in this country for a while fear new people moving in. It happened early, when Irish and German immigrants started arriving in droves, and it happens recently, when Mexicans and other Latinos are now streaming into the country. And so it is again, when we have been quickly introduced to the Muslim world after 9/11, when most Americans probably only had a vague idea about what Islam is. Their culture is different than what many Americans are used to, and their response is to be fearful of Muslims. They go to extreme methods of trying to alienate Muslims or demonize them in order to push them to the fringes of society. The threat of terrorist acts greatly magnifies this response.

For black people, the racism is no longer as overt as it once used to be. It is still strong, but we don't see it in the open as much as we do with Muslim people. Now racism against blacks is seen much more often in institutions, and not from the media as it is with Muslims. What I mean by this is that the racism is hidden. For instance, in class Sam made a point that proportionally, blacks occupy a much greater population of the prison system than do whites. It would be suicide now for a politician or media talking head to go on the air and make a racist statement against black people. So although racism still exists for black people, I believe we see it openly more often against Muslim people.

I think this is a complicated question that could only have a complicated answer. When we hear stories such as the one we watched on modern slavery in class, or of the earthquake in haiti, of course we feel bad, and look at all the things we have. It is part of being human that we feel compassion for other people in trouble. We feel thankful for everything we posses and our families, and look for ways to contribute to those in need, whether that be through charity or direct involvement. But then as time passes and the immediate emotions pass, we revert to our old ways of excess. We again take for granted all the things we have, the useful but ultimately unnecessary cell phones. We begin to think that things like what happen in "third world" countries can't happen here. We assume our way of life will go on forever, that we will always be the dominant country in the world. This isn't surprising, since for everyones life that's all we've known. Maybe it will take a serious disaster to shake us out of our ways, like an overload of a power supply that deprives us of our most basic technologies, ones that many people wouldn't know how to survive without. Or possibly we need to be shocked into recognition. Maybe if all of us watch the video we saw in class, we would all remember the suffering of others in other countries. Ignorance is, I feel, the greatest barrier that stops us from feeling the pain of others, and taking for granted all that we have. Maybe if we are reminded each day that most of the world was suffering, being slowly killed, we would make a stand and say enough of our excess, it's time to do something in the world.

I would say that determinism and free-will played and equally strong role in my life. For determinism, I came from a middle class family from a good neighborhood. My parents were not wealthy, but we could afford to have nice things. They always encouraged me to study when I didn't want to to. They also cared about what happened at school. They always went to parent-teacher conferences during the year, and took and active role in my life. They always made sure the people I hung around with not involved in crime or drugs. However, free-will played an equally, if not stronger role. Even though my parents encouraged me to study, when it came down to it it was up to me to do the actual studying. I chose to pay attention in class, and to do my homework every night. It was my hard work and good grades that got me into Penn State, and not because the school has to fill a quota. While here at Penn State, my mom has minimal control over my actions. It is solely upon me to study, as there is no one looking over my back. I can chose to go out the night before a test, or stay in to study. But then as I think about it now, I can see determinism even in my free-will. Sure, its my choice to study, but all those years that my parents influenced me to do well in school has perhaps left an impression on me to make them happy. So maybe determinism has effected me more than I initially thought.

The question of why we don't live like monkeys is a very hard one to answer. For one, we are the only species on the planet who have developed a heightened sense of self-awareness. While other animals can consciously interact with there surroundings, such as apes using tools, humans have a much higher level of reasoning and are therefore able to interact in a much greater way. I feel that with this higher sense of self-awareness, it is impossible for us to not care about ourselves and environment. It is in our genes to care for our own self-preservation, and we would have a hard time ignoring this instinct. Sure, we can make a conscious choice to abandon our advanced technology and regress into a agricultural society, but the vices of our society would remain. People would still be jealous of others, and murders, robbery, and other crimes would still occur. These genetic reasons are why we can't behave like monkeys, no matter how hard we try. However, for all the troubles we cause, our self-awareness and ability to judge between good and bad leads us to create many good things. Our compassion allows us to help others in need, even at the risk of our own safety. Firefighters and police officers, as well as everyday heroes show this. In the animal kingdom it's eat or be eaten. Injured animals are often left to fend for themselves because they slow down the overall group. Our society encourages people to help those that are in trouble or handicapped. Our high intellect allows us to reason through problems, rather than just acting on first intuition. We have the ability to work out our differences, even though there are those in this world who don't want to. Humans cannot simply live just for the sake of living. We are genetically predisposed to protect our young, as well as care for those we are close to. If we were just animals, this world could very possibly be different. We are arguably the dominant species on the planet. We have to ability to kill any animal we want. But we don't do that. Why? because we understand the delicate balance of the ecosystem. If we were to run rampant across the world, many of the animals alive today would not be in existence. It is our high self-awareness that allows us to see the world as a whole, and not just our own little selves.

I think the comment Sam made about god being a she is really mind opening. Most people have had some sort of religious teaching in their lives, whether it be from a catholic high school or a ccd class when they were younger. I fall into that second group, but currently don't have any belief in a higher power. But from what I remember from those classes and having to go to church when I was younger, I can say that I've never heard god referred to as a woman. To me, this does not make much of a difference. I can see, however, how a very religious person could be stunned by this. Some people, especially the overly dogmatic ones like Pat Robertson would see this as an affront to their faith. These people who cling to the belief that the Earth is only around 5,000 years old create much of the problems in the world today. To me, saying god is a woman serves to point out how silly some beliefs are. During the presidency of George W. Bush, one of his generals said of Bush that he was appointed by god. Bush himself said god told him to invade Iraq. Wouldn't our world be a better place if people stopped listening to these messages from a so-called higher power? Throughout history, countless people have been murdered, pillaged, and starved because a "higher power" told them to do it. From the Crusades up until present day, religious leaders play far to great a role in the decisions of state. Televangelists prey on the poor and educated, inciting their fears in order to gain wealth. They hold millions of people hostage with their words, and the followers are only too willing to do as asked. Maybe if more of us try saying god is a she, or anything else thats not a man, more people will look at their own faith and see how arbitrary the whole thing is